‘Post-truth’ enters the Spanish dictionary

RAE director Darío Villanueva broke the news during a recent conference titled The Truth, Fiction and Post-truth: Politics and Literature, which he delivered in Madrid during an event co-sponsored by the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies and Menéndez Pelayo International University.

The term post-truth, according to Villanueva, will be incorporated next December into the dictionary as a noun with no hyphen. For example, Spaniards will say “la era de la posverdad,” despite the fact that it can be used as an adjective in English.

The term will take its place alongside words such as lie, hoax, falsehood and manipulation

The use of the prefix “post” doesn’t mean that we live in an age in which the truth has died – just as the term post-industrial doesn’t mean the end of industry. In both cases, the use of the prefix simply indicates that the fundamental role of the main word has diminished.

The term post-truth infers that people’s subjective feelings toward an idea or leader take precedence over the truth when it comes to taking decisions.

During the conference, the RAE director defined “post-truth” as information that appeals to public emotions, beliefs and desires rather than something based on objective fact; however, the exact definition to appear in the dictionary has yet to be determined.

Darío Villanueva described the term as “interesting as well as worrying,” and drew attention to the fact that the “prestigious Oxford English dictionary chose it as its word of the year for 2016.” He went on to say that there had been no problem finding an exact translation into Spanish.

The term will take its place alongside words such as lie, hoax, falsehood and manipulation, although Spanish speakers and writers will obviously be free to use it as they see fit.

In Spanish, the writer Luis Verdú was the first to use the term in his 2003 book, ‘The Prisoner of 21:30’

According to Villanueva, the academic decision was taken last week. For those who believe that the decision was precipitated and influenced by trend, the director pointed out that the term was first used in English in 1992 when the Serbian-American dramatist Steve Texich employed it in an article he wrote for The Nation. In Spanish, the writer Luis Verdú was the first to use the term in his 2003 book The Prisoner of 21:30. Its use has since become increasingly common in both languages.

Darío Villanueva declared that the RAE would publish words and definitions to be added to its online dictionary every December to show that it was “a living dictionary.”

English version by Heather Galloway.